Controller confused crash pilots


Questions have again been raised about Skyguide's role in last month's Lake Contance air disaster.


The Swiss air traffic controller in charge of two jets that collided over southern Germany last month appears to have mistaken the planes moments before impact.


A transcript of radio communications between the Zurich-based air traffic controller and an ill-fated Russian Tupolev has shown that the pilot was given the wrong information. Seventy-one people – including 52 children – died in the tragedy.

The transcript reveals that the controller from Switzerland’s Skyguide service wrongly informed the Russian pilot that another aircraft - a Boeing 757 belonging to the DHL courier company - was approaching from the right-hand side. In fact, the Boeing was on a collision course from the left.

http://www2.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=1258746